Rock Band 3 - Pro Guitar

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Mishura Desante
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Rock Band 3 - Pro Guitar

Postby Mishura Desante » 30 Apr 2011, 17:19

So i finally caved and bought the pro guitar - a fender strat - it is my hope that this will teach me guitar, or at least sufficiently enough that I can get through some songs on my own and perhaps get a teacher to improve for some real skill. A quick review of my song library revealed 142 songs that have a pro guitar track.

One of the good things about each "pro guitar" song is that it comes with an actual lesson and voice track to teach you how to play that particular song. While I am nowhere near ready, this does sound promising.

I've had some minimal lessons in guitar before, and have a decent understanding of music theory, so this will be an interesting experiment to see if someone (me!) can learn to play guitar by way of a "game". I'm going to try and adhere to a more traditional lesson plan - doing a lesson (or two) each week, with at least an hour of practice most days (or as my fingers permit).

I'll keep tabs of my progress here, for those intrigued, or who care to offer advice. (it wont be a day for day account, just when I feel like updating

-----Day 1-----
The initial lessons seem to focus on basic fretting and note strumming, primarily with the first 7 frets. Obviously with no one to coach me per se, I have to follow the directions on screen, which includes things like using multiple fingers on the same string to easily switch between two frets as opposed to sliding my hand up and down (such as index for second fret, middle finger for third fret, as I'm instructed). The good thing is the lessons have backing instruments, etc, so you can hear some accompaniment. One of the lessons that I skipped ahead just to look at was definitely a riff from a familiar song.

It is certainly challenging for me (my first thoughts were "holy shit this is hard!"), and after about 30minutes my fingertips began to hurt, plus i wanted to dive in and play a song, as most new players are want to do.

Eventually I caved and queued up a song - i ended up going for "Everybody wants to rule the World" by Tears for Fears - a "challenging" song on easy setting. To say I barely made it through was a bit of an understatement, but of course it was also the first time I saw the actual notes.

(oh, and according to the game/lessons - "The hardest button to button" by the white stripes is the easiest song in the game.)
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Re: Rock Band 3 - Pro Guitar

Postby Soleira » 30 Apr 2011, 18:07

Keep at it, you'll develop some major caluses on your finger tips. Back when I used to play my violin for a couple hours a day my fingers got so bad I lost my finger prints on the tips of all 4 fingers. The muscle memory in your hand will build too making it easier to move into the correct position automatically.

Mishura Desante
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Re: Rock Band 3 - Pro Guitar

Postby Mishura Desante » 01 May 2011, 21:33

Achievement Earned (From Xbox Live)

"Get a real guitar already!"

Made me laugh - my fingers kill me though, its hard to play for more than 30-45 minutes. Managed to make it through the basic lessons and play through the first song on easy...sliding up and down the neck though does a number on the fingers

I will say that this is probably a great way to get kids to learn guitar, as it is very easy to keep you interested, earning points, etc.

I like that I can actually see where what I'm learning actually translates into "play a song"
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Re: Rock Band 3 - Pro Guitar

Postby Phoenix » 02 May 2011, 20:17

What was the total cost of the rig? Sounds like you're on an Xbox?
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Mishura Desante
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Re: Rock Band 3 - Pro Guitar

Postby Mishura Desante » 02 May 2011, 20:46

Guitar 280; Midi Adaptor 40
Game 50(ish)
Xbox (whatever the going rate is)
+downloaded content at 2 bucks/song
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Re: Rock Band 3 - Pro Guitar

Postby Mishura Desante » 10 Jun 2011, 23:49

So my practice has dropped to 2 -3x/week, but i usually practice for longer (an hour a shot)

Most of the songs I can now play on easy, which consists of either some individual notes or power chords. Nothing terrible difficult, but its a nice confidence boost.

Stepping up to medium however, is a different story. Much faster change ups, so it looks like another curve on the hill.

Definitely have the beginnings of callouses on the fingers (especially ring and index).

Got excited today though, as 3 more songs to learn on....A-HA (take on me) and Live (I alone / lightning crashes)

So far I have to say this is a pretty good way to "learn to play", but I cant say i'm actually learning how to read music / guitar tabs (I may be playing an E chord, but I dont realize that's what im playing).
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Re: Rock Band 3 - Pro Guitar

Postby Saltire » 19 Jun 2011, 13:41

Can you write your own music and play it?
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